


Crossroads

by khaleesian



Category: Fast and the Furious Series
Genre: April Showers Challenge, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-04
Updated: 2011-04-04
Packaged: 2017-10-17 14:39:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/177923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/khaleesian/pseuds/khaleesian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Where do we go from here?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Crossroads

“What’re you doing?” Brian’s voice was still strong, if a little breathy. Dom unlocked his shoulder, shifting the pressure marginally. He glanced back, satisfying himself that Brian was still okay and Braga was still motionless, then grunted. Just one more second…

“Seriously, dude, what…” Brian’s voice was drowned out by the helpless _screeeee_ of the Subaru sacrificing one of its front seats. The steel gave slowly and then very quickly as the last of the bolts worked free. Dom twisted the door open a little harder and then yanked the seat free, and it came out in a piece. The jagged metal track on the underside raked the door and nearly sliced his hand open as he flipped it right side up. He dragged it over to where Brian was slumped. Since it still had the track, the seat ratcheted open like a clam when he shoved at it, leaning it against the car next to Brian.

Brian looked from him to the car seat dubiously. “I’m supposed to sit on that?”

“Nah, I just wanted you to admire the workmanship up close,” Dom shoved the seat firmly against the side of the Camaro and nudged Brian’s ankle with his foot.

Brian frowned and pressed his hands into the dirt, attempting to edge crablike onto Dom’s makeshift chair. His lips thinned and his face got visibly paler in the bright sun.

“Hold on, lemme just…” Dom leaned forward and threaded his arm under Brian’s, snaking it around Brian’s back. Brian was heavier than Dom expected, slack and deadweight. Dom tightened his hold and lifted Brian the scant inches he needed to slide onto the seat.

Brian shuddered; a small hiccup ran through his body. Dom pulled back and examined Brian’s face, grimacing in sympathy. Ribs definitely broken then. Brian’s hands still clutched the dirt, but he was keeping his face deliberately turned away from Dom. He nudged Brian gently until Brian relaxed back into the cradle of the seat. One of Brian’s eyes was screwed shut, but he was grinning faintly.

“Raise your arm,” Dom pointed with his elbow at the tire in the wheel well. “Tuck your hand up there.”

“Why?” Brian furrowed his brow a bit. “Hurts to move.”

“Sure, I mean…I couldn’t possibly know what I was talking about,” Dom said dryly. “Not like anything like this has ever happened to me before or anything.”

He smirked at Brian, who made a face, then smirked back.

“You know,” Brian sighed, but he did raise his arm slowly. “The ball-busting really ain’t so therapeutic.”

After Brian worked his elbow and forearm into a comfortable lean on the top of the wheel, he took a cautious breath and his eyebrows relaxed a little.

“Breathing a little easier?” Dom muttered.

Brian grinned a little, swallowed and winced. Dom stuffed his hands in his pockets to keep from doing something stupid with them.

“Didja bring some brews?”

Dom snorted, “That would have required more expectation of success.”

Brian made a balky face, “Always thought we would _succeed_.”

“OK, yeah,” Dom shifted his weight. “Expectation of survival, then.”

“Yeah,” Brian’s face had creased into a half sneer as he looked at their captive. But Braga was wisely keeping his eyebrows down for the moment, so Brian looked back at the Subaru and sighed. “I guess.”

Dom rolled his shoulders back. They ached. Adrenaline leeching out of his blood always left him boneless and aching. It was kind of like a combination of a good workout and great sex. He and Letty had often joked about how much adrenaline the human body could stand before the heart gave out. They’d done some experiments as well.

Thinking about Letty made his throat thicken and he turned away from the wreckage. Her face shimmered behind his eyelids. Like the last time he’d seen her, laughing. He could almost feel the warmth of her hair spilling over his hands.

Fenix’s eyes were already starting to cloud up like milk; that motherfucker was as dead as Julius Caesar. People were always saying that vengeance was meaningless, did nothing to restore the balance, wouldn’t make a bit of difference. And didn’t even feel good.

Dom sucked his teeth, spat and looked at Fenix again. He felt pretty good about it actually.

At least, he didn’t feel bad. At the moment, he didn’t feel anything except heavy. Weighted down.

There was a faint echo of a screech and smash that seemed to thrum through the earth. Dom frowned down at the top of Brian’s head. Didn’t sound like anyone else was going to make it out of the tunnel.

“Would it be a stupid question,” Brian asked softly. “If I asked what happened to the Charger?”

Dom came back to himself and looked back toward the gaping mouth of the cavern and raised one shoulder. “It got a good burial.”

Clouds of dust were still filtering out of the black hole.

When he glanced back down at Brian, Brian was looking up at him intently with a complicated expression. Dom got it instantly and he nudged Brian’s ankle again with his foot.

“It’s just a car,” Dom shifted his weight.

Brian took a quick breath and choked on it a little. He coughed and shook his head. “Just. A. Car?”

Dom licked dust off his teeth and grinned. He should have guessed that Brian wouldn’t let his bullshit go unchecked. “Sacrificed in a good cause.”

Brian blew all his breath out and raised his eyebrows.

“Got a bad rap early, the Charger.” Dom mused. “One for the bad guys since 1968.”

Brian frowned. “Not the _General Lee_.”

“Technically, still the bad guys,” Dom countered and crouched so his eyes were at a level with Brian’s. “Wrong side of the law.”

“They’re using ‘em for black and whites now,” Brian said flatly and cut his eyes over at Dom.

“Shit,” Dom flung one hand up dramatically. “That’s that then. It’s over.”

But Brian didn’t smile. Brian shook his head again, looking at Dom dubiously. His entire face said _uh-huh_?

“Besides. Mia said it was a goddamned curse,” Dom rocked back on his heels. “Maybe she’s right.”

“No,” Brian spoke so quietly that Dom had to lean in to hear him. “You were right the first time. It’s just a car.”

He looked at Dom with a challenge in his eyes.

“Ye-ah,” Dom said slowly.

“Doesn’t mean anything more than you want it to mean,” Brian said, equally slow.

Listening to Brian talk and watching his eyes was kind of hypnotic. It took Dom’s mind off the sirens, which were still thin, but strengthening.

Dom took a deep breath. He fingered the cross under his shirt. He curled one side of his lip, “Are we having a moment here? Don’t know if I’m up to having a moment.”

“Go fuck yourself, Toretto,” But the way Brian said it, half-squinting with a grin, felt like a warm hand on the small of his back. Dom chuckled and felt almost normal for a second.

Brian was frowning again as he chewed on his lower lip.

“What’s in that head of yours?” Dom tried to say it lightly even though it was a real effort to hold himself completely still now. Fading adrenaline, plus sirens made his breath come shallow and unsatisfying. He forced himself to breathe deep and slow.

“Just thinking. This bitchin’ Camaro could still go,” Brian tapped the car lightly with the back of his head. “And _those guys_ don’t have Chargers.” He jerked his chin toward the approaching horde.

Dom sighed. He cupped his forehead and dug his thumbs into his temples. He was so tired all of a sudden, tired and heavy. He felt twice as heavy and half as strong.

“Meant what I said,” He blinked slowly at Brian, who looked…concerned. Concerned and deeply uncertain.

“I know, I just…” Brian clenched his fist, getting himself a good handful of dirt. “This may not go so well.”

“I got low expectations,” Dom said gruffly and Brian tried to smile.

“I could totally distract ‘em…” Brian started.

“How’d you ever get to be a Fed?” Dom looked at Brian closely. “When your idea of the Miranda warning is ‘you have the right to get the fuck out of here’?”

Brian snorted and winced. Then he said something to his collarbone and Dom nudged his foot again. Brian looked up and said clearly, “Three strikes.”

Dom exhaled and gave his own sardonic smile a try. “Don’t remind me.”

“Wish I could say that I thought they’d do right by you,” Brian started.

“Shit…” Dom rolled his eyes.  
“But they don’t even do right by me,” Brian nibbled one corner of his mouth ruefully.

Dom swallowed. He couldn’t say _if I’d done this before, she wouldn’t be dead_ out loud. He just looked at Brian steadily. He found himself wishing he could wipe some of the dirt off Brian’s face, so he stood up abruptly. 

“That’s for her,” Dom nodded at where Fenix’s blood was starting to drip off the grille.

He jerked his chin at Braga, “That’s for you.”

“And what’s for you?” Brian said softly, in that voice that made the back of Dom’s throat itch.

“It’s all for me,” Dom growled. “Me being me started all this shit. Sometimes I wish I could be someone else.”

Brian raised one corner of his lip and quirked his chin. “That’s not so easy,” he said and the cavalry rode in.

Some of these guys were the border patrol, they weren’t even cops. Dom sneered at them a little and folded his arms. Brian tried to stand up, mulishly ignoring Dom’s scowl. After a second, Dom caved and braced him up to his feet. Brian’s blood got all over his shirt. Déjà vu all over again.

The rainbow of uniforms gave way to a ring of dark suits. Dom breathed deeply through his nose and blinked slowly and deliberately.

Brian was looking at someone hard; his eyes were like blue shards of ice and his face was set in uncompromising lines. Dom looked without turning his head. An older guy, obviously a Fed from the suit and the attitude, was losing the staredown with Brian.

“Stasiak, secure Braga,” the older guy spoke out of the side of his mouth. “O’Conner, you look like you could use some medical attention.”

There were paramedics, Dom noted with relief. Older guy spared an imperturbable glance for Fenix and then looked back at Brian with something close to concern. Dom found himself almost liking the dude.

“Cuffs,” Brian muttered, and the older guy sighed heavily, cutting his eyes at Dom.

“Mr. Toretto,” he said with exaggerated politeness. “I am placing you under arrest, but I will not restrain you if you agree to accompany us of your own volition.”

Dom blinked and laid on his own best manners. “I’ve been in Special Agent O’Conner’s custody for two days now, and I intended to remain so.”

“Your cooperation is noted.” And older guy started barking orders and waving peremptorily at the paramedics who managed to grab Brian before he collapsed.

Dom took another deep breath and watched them wrestle Brian down onto one of those collapsible stretchers. Soon doors would close. Soon Brian would be looking at him from behind glass, if they got to see each other at all. Dom felt his chest tightening. He clenched his teeth and nudged his way past the EMTs.

“Take this,” he grunted shortly.

Brian looked down at what Dom had put in his hand and quickly gripped the bright silver tight in his palm, like he was trying to hide it. Dom glanced around to make sure that they were unobserved and then he gave Brian one unguarded look, one that said that he still had hope. That he wasn’t afraid, or at least, not too much.

Brian slid his fist, trailing the chain, up over his chest and almost into his armpit. For one moment his face was totally open too, hopeful and reckless. Then he winked, but only Dom caught it.

“We having a moment here?” Brian said slyly.

Dom took a deep breath and didn’t laugh. “Yeah, I guess.”

“You guys are like….” Braga was shaking his head, curling his lip as he was tucked into the armored wagon. “Some kind of crime against nature.”

Dom flexed his right hand hard, really feeling the stretch. He’d never yet hit a man who couldn’t hit back; he wondered if now was the time to make an exception.

Brian said evenly, “That **shirt** is a crime against nature, pendejo.”

So Dom was still chuckling at the look on Braga’s face while they loaded Brian up in the back of the ambulance and shut the door.


End file.
